Lafayette of the South: Prince Camille de Polignac and the American Civil WarShow full item record
Title | Lafayette of the South: Prince Camille de Polignac and the American Civil War |
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Author | Kinard, Jeff Sowers |
Date | 1997 |
Genre | Dissertation |
Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
Abstract | This study focuses on the Civil War career of the aristocratic French soldier-of-fortune, Prince Camille de Polignac. Prompted by his passionate belief in states' rights and his own mystical sense of personal destiny, Polignac, already a Crimean War veteran, offered his services to the Confederacy in 1861. Denied the general's commission he expected, he nevertheless accepted a position as lieutenant colonel on the staff of his friend, General P. G. T. Beauregard. Overcoming numerous obstacles to promotion, Polignac, exhibiting reckless bravery and outstanding leadership, eventually rose to major general thus earning the rather peculiar distinction of being the only foreign national on either side to hold that rank. Polignac's remarkable Confederate career has gone largely unnoticed owing to the majority of his service having occurred in the important yet relatively historically neglected Western Theater. He served with distinction in General Braxton Bragg's 1862 Invasion of Kentucky and later under Lieutenant General Richard Taylor in General Edmund Kirby Smith's Trans-Mississippi Department. While in Louisiana in 1863, newly promoted Brigadier General Polignac assumed command of a brigade of wild Texans, who, suspicious of foreigners, quickly dubbed him "General Polecat." Through hard work and personal bravery he eventually won their trust, and at their head played a crucial role in defeating Union General Nathaniel Banks' 1864 Red River Expedition. He was subsequently promoted major general for his leadership during the fighting at Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, Louisiana. In early 1865 Polignac made a final attempt to save his adopted country from defeat. He sailed back to France on a secret diplomatic mission to enlist Emperor Napoleon III's support for the Confederacy. By the time he arrived in Paris, however, the South had surrendered. He chose to remain in France where he later served in the Franco-Prussian War. Although he lived a long and eventful life after the American conflict, Polignac looked back on his Confederate service with pride, remaining a staunch defender of "The Lost Cause." |
Link | https://repository.tcu.edu/handle/116099117/33628 |
Department | History |
Advisor | McWhiney, Grady |
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- Doctoral Dissertations [1500]
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